Did you know smoking's bad for you?
Oct. 25th, 2010 10:58 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
rockinhamburgerDear anti-smoking individual,
As a matter of fact, I have been living under a rock my entire life and have never before heard this fact: smoking is bad for you!
You know what else isn't good for you?
Working constantly.
Eating junk food.
Getting too much sun.
Not getting enough sun.
Stepping outside your house when the air quality's shit.
Smog.
Too much alcohol.
Too much sex.
Anxiety and worry.
Not having health coverage.
Having an unhelpful, apathetic math teacher.
Being poor.
Some medications.
There are a ridiculous amount of activities and factors that can be bad for us as human beings, some of which we are helpless to, some of which we consciously choose, despite knowing the risks involved.
Yes, we know smoking's bad for us. We've seen the same PSAs and read the same pamphlets. We see the cigarette pack warnings every time we open our pack of smokes, and moreover we hear it from every supposedly well-meaning person who sees fit to remind us that smoking is bad for us.
We know. And yet we smoke.
Go ahead and analyze the psychology behind smokers continuing to participate in a bad habit/activity, but please don't act like you're better than that. When you forgo wearing sunblock so you can get a nice tan, or when you eat junk food even though you know it's high in sodium and sugar, you're essentially saying, "I know the risks of doing this, but right now I don't care."
It's not from a lack of information that we continue doing the things we know are bad for us. But look, we tried it one day and liked it, so we tried it again and before long it developed into a habit we use to cope during stressful times; to calm our anxieties. This can be applied to many (if not most) people within a variety and number of activities and habits. Certainly smoking is not a health way of dealing with shit, but it's really not anyone else's business. It's no more my business what you do to stay calm while studying or finishing an assignment than my smoking is to you.
Now, I actually appreciate that my close friends who do not smoke may wish for me to quit smoking and even say so. Their concern is sweet. Not so sweet are the rude slants made against me by virtual strangers and passersby on the street when they see me smoking. I'll never understand what makes a person feel they have the right to call me out when they don't even know me.
This very weekend I spent a full day at school with one hundred students, all of whom are in my program of study. For nine hours we played ice-breaker and team dynamic activities, and shared our respective cultures with each other. It was an interesting and enlightening experience.
During a fifteen minute break some of us went outside for a cigarette break, and when we returned one of the leaders shouted, for the entire room to hear, "SMOKERS!"
Similarly, when I raised my hand to respond to a discussion topic, the leader called on me with a shout of, "Yes, smoker?"
And finally, a fellow student I had never even spoken to felt it necessary call out to my friend and I as we passed, "The smokers!"
By the end of the day I was nearly shaking with anger. Why?
BECAUSE IT'S FUCKING RUDE.
Please don't consider it your place to call out a smoker, in public, in private -- at all. Unless you have some history with him or her, you really have no right or business saying those things. I'm not blowing smoke in your face, or forcing you to participate; I'm not walking around shouting, "I JUST WENT FOR A SMOKE, LOSERS!" I am merely partaking in a personal decision which has nothing to do with you.
Kindly keep your comments to yourself.
Thank you very much,
A smoker.
As a matter of fact, I have been living under a rock my entire life and have never before heard this fact: smoking is bad for you!
You know what else isn't good for you?
Working constantly.
Eating junk food.
Getting too much sun.
Not getting enough sun.
Stepping outside your house when the air quality's shit.
Smog.
Too much alcohol.
Too much sex.
Anxiety and worry.
Not having health coverage.
Having an unhelpful, apathetic math teacher.
Being poor.
Some medications.
There are a ridiculous amount of activities and factors that can be bad for us as human beings, some of which we are helpless to, some of which we consciously choose, despite knowing the risks involved.
Yes, we know smoking's bad for us. We've seen the same PSAs and read the same pamphlets. We see the cigarette pack warnings every time we open our pack of smokes, and moreover we hear it from every supposedly well-meaning person who sees fit to remind us that smoking is bad for us.
We know. And yet we smoke.
Go ahead and analyze the psychology behind smokers continuing to participate in a bad habit/activity, but please don't act like you're better than that. When you forgo wearing sunblock so you can get a nice tan, or when you eat junk food even though you know it's high in sodium and sugar, you're essentially saying, "I know the risks of doing this, but right now I don't care."
It's not from a lack of information that we continue doing the things we know are bad for us. But look, we tried it one day and liked it, so we tried it again and before long it developed into a habit we use to cope during stressful times; to calm our anxieties. This can be applied to many (if not most) people within a variety and number of activities and habits. Certainly smoking is not a health way of dealing with shit, but it's really not anyone else's business. It's no more my business what you do to stay calm while studying or finishing an assignment than my smoking is to you.
Now, I actually appreciate that my close friends who do not smoke may wish for me to quit smoking and even say so. Their concern is sweet. Not so sweet are the rude slants made against me by virtual strangers and passersby on the street when they see me smoking. I'll never understand what makes a person feel they have the right to call me out when they don't even know me.
This very weekend I spent a full day at school with one hundred students, all of whom are in my program of study. For nine hours we played ice-breaker and team dynamic activities, and shared our respective cultures with each other. It was an interesting and enlightening experience.
During a fifteen minute break some of us went outside for a cigarette break, and when we returned one of the leaders shouted, for the entire room to hear, "SMOKERS!"
Similarly, when I raised my hand to respond to a discussion topic, the leader called on me with a shout of, "Yes, smoker?"
And finally, a fellow student I had never even spoken to felt it necessary call out to my friend and I as we passed, "The smokers!"
By the end of the day I was nearly shaking with anger. Why?
BECAUSE IT'S FUCKING RUDE.
Please don't consider it your place to call out a smoker, in public, in private -- at all. Unless you have some history with him or her, you really have no right or business saying those things. I'm not blowing smoke in your face, or forcing you to participate; I'm not walking around shouting, "I JUST WENT FOR A SMOKE, LOSERS!" I am merely partaking in a personal decision which has nothing to do with you.
Kindly keep your comments to yourself.
Thank you very much,
A smoker.
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no subject
Date: 2010-10-25 03:10 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-10-25 03:14 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-10-25 04:57 pm (UTC)All that stuff you said about the study group is fucking rude, I totally agree with you. I also agree about not calling out strangers on smoking and pretty much all the things you complain about.
Except one.
Aside from 'too much alcohol' all those things are only damaging for your own health. I know you don't go blowing smoke in my face, but I still have to breathe cancerigenous air when there are people smoking around me. You can do whatever you want with your health (although I don't understand why anyone would want to risk their health like that I respect it's your choice) I'm just not happy I have to suffer the consequences, too. It's the same with alcohol, destroy your liver if you want but don't kill me driving around drunk, you know.
Also, I say this knowing this is your journal and you rant all you want.
That said. Really, fucking rude what they did.
As I said, don't kill me?
no subject
Date: 2010-10-26 12:41 am (UTC)Firstly, I appreciate what you're saying. This is generally why, where I live, smokers are required by law to smoke at least 30 feet from any establishment. This does not mean every smoker abides by that law, but I do. Smoking is banned in all restaurants, bars, and airplanes, and I am all for that. I wouldn't smoke there even if I was allowed to.
But --
I know you don't go blowing smoke in my face, but I still have to breathe cancerigenous air when there are people smoking around me.
While this is true to an extent, I think it's sort of a weak argument when you factor in that vehicles (unless they are electric) generally run on gasoline, which is derived from oil. Oil is extracted from the earth, and the consequences of having an oil-based economy are severe on both our planet and our living conditions, specifically our pockets and our physical health. The vast number of cars on the road creates an enormous level of pollution in the air we breath -- I'd venture a great deal more than my cigarette does. The cancerous air we breathe can be attributed much more easily and fully to the automobile industry, and those of us who inevitably must buy into it. And yet I very rarely witness people calling out drivers on their contribution to the shit air quality. This is mostly because gasoline is a necessary evil. What else are we supposed to do? Most members of society depend on it.
My point is that my cigarette is pretty insignificant to the air you (and I, btw) breathe when you consider the much worse toxins that already exist there.
Moreover, this does not give someone the right to be an asshole about it. I'm not saying you are; you've been quite polite and careful, and I appreciate that. But I can't help but feel stung by the insinuation that I'm creating cancerous air when I smoke, most especially because I'm a generally considerate person that pays attention to her carbon footprint.
no subject
Date: 2010-10-26 08:36 am (UTC)But, really, you don't have to convince me. I know every argument has two sides and you have pretty solid arguments, too. I didn't mean to say you're wrong and you should stop smoking.
And what I did want to make clear is that THEY WERE ASSHOLES. I'm with you in that, believe me.
Anyway, really, don't mind me.
no subject
Date: 2010-10-25 08:18 pm (UTC)I smoke but I try to smoke responsibly (if there is such a thing) and I'm a grown woman so I really don't need people trying to make me feel like shit for smoking.
no subject
Date: 2010-10-26 12:43 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-10-25 10:10 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-10-26 12:45 am (UTC)Okay, I'm gonna step away from my computer for a while. Getting too worked up, clearly.
Thanks for commenting!